In 1928 the Norwegian-language newspaper Scandia described
a district on the West Side of Chicago as “Little Norway”
because of its concentration of Norwegians and their churches,
lodge halls, and places of business. The neighborhood was
but one of a large number of easily identifiable ethnic enclaves
in the Chicago landscape; the same situation existed in other
cities such as Brooklyn, Minneapolis, and Seattle, where Norwegians
settled in considerable numbers.

The present volume of Studies, the thirty-first in the series,
contains twelve articles largely devoted to immigrant life
in America’s great cities. Due at least partly to a rural
bias in Norwegian-American historiography, this picture of
Norwegian immigrants does not readily surface. Consequently,
it is our wish to provide a better balance by giving increased
attention to the urban environment, while we take care not
to neglect the study of other significant aspects of the Norwegian-American
experience.

In the lead article John Higham reviews the scholarly debate
about the immigrant impact on urban America. He then explores
the issues and forces that mobilized some ethnic groups to
mass action; it was a militant phase of their American experience
that Higham sees as having been neglected by historians during
the ethnic revival of the past decades, in part because of
the conventions that governed the writing of ethnic histories.
It is therefore conceivable that a closer reading of the sources
will reveal involvement of Scandinavians in some of the many
episodes of ethnic assertiveness. Except for the Finns, Nordic
nationalities appear at present to be conspicuous by their
near invisibility; if the latter is actually the case, we
need to explain why.

Profiling the career of a Norwegian-American Minneapolis
politician, Lars M. Rand, in the heavily Scandinavian sixth
ward, Carl H. Chrislock shows how Rand through his political
organization and by his own shrewdness responded to the divisions,
needs, and interests within his constituency to advance his
political ambitions. In the next essay Christen T. Jonassen
interprets how transplanted ethnic value systems and attitudes,
and also American patterns, influenced behavior and produced
conflict as well as cooperation within the Norwegian Brooklyn
community. Appropriately in this the centennial year of the
Haymarket Affair of May 4, 1886, Arlow W. Andersen surveys
contemporary Norwegian-American press opinion about this disturbing
incident, which left the entire American labor movement with
a taint of radicalism and violence.

The following three contributions employ various kinds of
evidence to gain entry into the immigrant community. John
R. Jenswold uses “America letters,” specifically a collection
uncovered accidentally in 1981, to document the experiences
of Norwegian immigrant workers in the 1890s. Deborah L. Miller
delivers a striking photographic essay on Norwegian Minneapolis
- a first in this series - and suggests how photographs may
aid historical inquiry. The role of the immigrant press is
the subject of the article by Odd S. Lovoll, which, relying
heavily on the Norwegian-language Washington Posten, delineates
the contours and stages of development and adjustment in the
Norwegian community in Seattle.

How the successful newspaper Skandinaven in Chicago fostered
Norwegian immigrant literature through its professional publishing
venture is detailed by Orm Overland in an article treating
the Norwegian-American book trade in the 1860s and 1870s.
Ingrid Semmingsen recounts the life and career of a Norwegian-American
humorist and dissident, Ole S. Hervin, known by his pseudonym
as Herm. Wang; she believes that additional biographical studies
of individuals such as Hervin will establish the existence
of an influential liberal and intellectual element in urban
centers, and thereby serve to broaden our conception of Norwegian
Americans. Janet E. Rasmussen writes about the Norwegian pioneer
feminist Aasta Hansteen and her years in America, 1880 to
1889; Hansteen was greatly affected by the more advanced American
feminist movement and by extension its impact was felt on
the corresponding movement in Norway. The hitherto unknown
correspondence between O. E. Rølvaag and Marie Halling
Swensen, of a distinguished family in Norway, as presented
by Einar Haugen offers glimpses of a deeply moving and unique
relationship that developed during the final years of Rølvaag’s
life.

The ethnic community stimulated artistic activity, and eventually
the practitioners arranged exhibitions, some of them attracting
participation on a national scale. Rolf H. Erickson demonstrates
the value for scholarly investigation of the catalogs and
checklists that were prepared on such occasions. C. A. Clausen
continues his listings of recent publications, assisted for
Norwegian titles by Johanna Barstad. Charlotte Jacobson contributes
another installment on acquisitions, which makes evident that
important documents are being collected, but which also reminds
us of the need for renewed effort to collect and preserve
such records before they are lost or destroyed.

The altered appearance of Studies reflects the beginning
of our fourth ten volumes, and we are indebted to Nancy Leeper
for the design. Again I wish to acknowledge with deep appreciation
and admiration the services of my competent and genial editorial
assistant Mary R. Hove, my treasured co-worker now for nearly
seven years.